admiration of the old.  I must not, however, omit to inform you, that half the service was scarcely performed when the preacher mounted a pulpit, with a black cap on, and read a short sermon from a printed book.  I shall long have a distinct recollection of the figure and attitude of the Verger who attended the preacher.  He followed him to the pulpit, fastened the door, became stationary, and rested his left arm over the railings of the stairs.  Anon, he took out his snuff-box with his right hand, and regaled himself with a pinch of snuff in the most joyous and comfortably-abstracted manner imaginable.  There he remained till the conclusion of the discourse; not one word of which seemed to afford him half the satisfaction as did the contents of his snuff-box.

Military Mass was performed about an hour after, at the church of ST. REMY, whither I strolled quietly, to witness the devotion of the congregation previous to the entry of the soldiers; and I will not dissemble being much struck and gratified by what I saw.  There was more simplicity:  a smaller congregation:  softer music:  a lower-toned organ; less rush of people; and in very many of the flock the most intense and unfeigned expression of piety.  At the elevation of the host, from the end of the choir, (near which was suspended a white flag with the portrait of the present King[28] upon it) a bell was rung from the tower of the church; the sound, below, was soft and silver-toned—­accompanied by rather a quick movement on the organ, upon the diapason stop; which, united with the silence and prostration of the congregation, might have commanded the reverence of the most profane.

There is nothing, my dear friend, more gratifying, in a foreign land, than the general appearance of earnestness of devotion on a sabbath day; especially within the HOUSE OF GOD.  However, I quickly heard the clangor of the trumpet, the beat of drums, the measured tramp of human feet, and up marched two or three troops of the national guard to perform military mass.  I retired precipitately to the Inn, being well pleased to have escaped this strange and distracting sight:  so little in harmony with the rites and ceremonies of our own church, and in truth so little accordant with the service which I had just beheld.

[22] [Mons. Licquet says that there were about 17,000 souls in 1824; so
    that the above number may be that of the amount of its present
    population.  “Several changes (says my French translator) have taken
    place at Dieppe since I saw it:  among the rest, there is a magnificent
    establishment of BATHS, where a crowd of people, of the first
    distinction, every year resort.  Her Royal Highness, the Duchesse de
    Berri, may be numbered among these Visitors.]

[23] [The common people to this day call a herring, a child of
    Dieppe. LICQUET.]

[24] ["Sterne reproaches the French for their hyperbolical language:  the
    air of the country had probably some influence on M. Dibdin when he
    adopted this phrase.”  LICQUET.]